Santa Ana residents, businesses protest funding for OC homeless mental health center

Santa Ana city leaders, business owners, and families are demanding the county stop funding a homeless mental health organization that they claim is not effectively helping those who are experiencing homelessness, but instead creating more crime in their neighborhoods.

The Orange County Mental Health Association multi-service center (MHA) has been in Santa Ana off Main and Central for more than 20 years, but city leaders say the facility is not helping the crisis, it is enabling it.

More than 50 people who live and work in the city attended the board of supervisors meeting Tuesday to protest yet another year of funding for the facility, this time at $2.4 million through 2024.

“It isn’t fair that children are subjected to people shooting up drugs in public every day,” said Santa Ana father Danny Vega.

“Where are those suffering from mental health issues, that are using the services of MHA, living and sleeping while MHA's doors are closed? In or in front of schools that are just about 600 feet from MHA's front door like the one shown in this photo committing indecent acts and exposure?” Santa Ana Councilman Phil Bacerra asked the supervisors as he held up a photo.

Several residents mentioned the school that is 0.2 miles from MHA, where many students must walk home because their parents work or don’t have a vehicle.

Residents also claimed that a nearby Del Taco had closed its indoor dining because of homeless issues. An employee at the Del Taco told NBCLA that they closed indoor dining during the pandemic for health reasons as well as the homeless, and remain a walk-up or drive thru restaurant only.

Santa Ana’s Mayor said in a statement that police have responded to hundreds of calls to MHA for everything from assault to rape. NBCLA visited the campus and found one security guard who patrols inside and around the facility.

Business owners also spoke at the meeting, stating that they have had to invest thousands of dollars in security measures. One business owner directly next door to MHA told NBCLA that he had to spend about $100,000 to fence and barb wire his property, but he still cleans up drug paraphernalia and feces outside.

Supervisors asked the county health director and a representative from MHA several questions before voting on an amended motion to approve the funding for one more year so that MHA can find a new location, or their contract would be terminated.

Supervisors Vicente Sarmiento and Katrina Foley voted no on the motion.

For years, residents and city leaders have been asking the county to stop funding the organization and invest taxpayer money into models that are proving more successful. Sarmiento was one of those leaders representing Santa Ana.

“I’ve dealt with this since 2014,” Sarmiento said, explaining that he told MHA the last time they approved their funding his “instructions were clear” and they needed to start finding a new location.

The supervisors expressed concern for closing MHA without any solutions for the hundreds, even thousands, currently using their resources.

Those protesting, as well as Foley and Sarmiento, explained that the issue is not with the unhoused, but the program that is offering assistance, including showers, laundry, job training, and connection to resources outside of the city, but not housing.

“The county already provides these services,” exclaimed Santa Ana’s Homeless Services Division Manager Ken Gominski.

He told NBCLA that the city is proud of the funding and resources they provide the homeless, including over-night shelters.

Gominski also mentioned a recent outreach survey they conducted 10 days prior.

“Twenty-three people, or 63% surveyed, had no ties to Santa Ana,” he said, adding that 70% said they had received services from MHA currently or in the past.

Residents echoed concerns that outside cities may be dropping off homeless people in Santa Ana.

When asked where homeless people go after receiving services at MHA, which closes at 4:30 p.m., the county’s chief of Mental Health and Recovery Services, Veronica Kelley responded, “They’re not allowed to loiter on the property.”

Next door to MHA, Peter Maui, with Lee’s Lawnmower, said that’s when they come to his property to “party.” He showed NBCLA the fences he has built and had to put spiked barbed wire on after losing thousands of dollars in equipment.

Kelley told the board of supervisors that they had exceeded their performance goals, connecting more than 3,000 homeless individuals with services, and even finding permanent housing for 92 people.

MHA’s representative also spoke briefly, confirming that they have been touring real estate, looking for new locations, but “the other cities at this point, we've had no luck finding a facility that could accommodate this type of facility."

Supervisor Doug Chaffee said, “Based on what I heard, Santa Ana should step up and take care of it,” referring to the homeless issues, as people shouted back.

He added that MHA is welcome in his hometown of Fullerton.

This contrasted Supervisor Foley, who said the homeless numbers in the county and those MHA claims to be helping don’t match up.

“It’s not a good model anymore,” she said. “I don’t know why we aren’t looking at moving these services into the shelter.”

The city of Santa Ana is also in current litigation with MHA, going on four years in January. The city filed the complaint against MHA to close them down as a public nuisance. As of Nov. 28, court documents showed an order for reassignment of the case to an out-of-county judge.

An employee who has been helping run MHA in Santa Ana since it opened also told NBCLA that the city doesn’t understand what they do for people every day and she welcomes any help they can get.

After the meeting, the city of Santa Ana put out a message to residents stating:

“MHA’s one-year contract extension is from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2024. While MHA operates over the next year, the City of Santa Ana will continue its efforts to provide police support and homeless outreach in the area. We encourage anyone who believes an unhoused individual needs assistance to call our homeless outreach team at 714-242-3706 from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekends.”